Background
He is the son of the veteran Scottish Nationalist Winnie Ewing (his father was also an Scottish National Party councillor) and has long been active in the Scottish National Party.
He is the son of the veteran Scottish Nationalist Winnie Ewing (his father was also an Scottish National Party councillor) and has long been active in the Scottish National Party.
Educated at Loretto, in Musselburgh, he studied law at the University of Glasgow where he was a member of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association.
He was elected to represent Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber in the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and he held on to the seat in 2003 and 2007. He, with his mother Winnie Ewing, abstained from the vote to abolish section 2A via the Ethical Standards in Public Life et cetera (Scotland) Acting 2000 but otherwise is viewed as being among the more moderate of the Scottish National Party MSPs, while his opposition to an outright ban on fox hunting also marked him out from many of his party colleagues.
After the Scottish National Party"s victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, Ewing was appointed as the Minister for Community Safety.
After the Scottish National Party victory at the 2011 Scottish Parliament Election, he was appointed as the Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, succeeding Jim Mather who stood down as an Managing Successful Programmes. In November 2014 the portfolio became Business Energy & Tourism.